New Zealand wins first gold at Youth Olympics

New Zealand has won its first gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in China, with Dylan Schmidt taking the title in the men's trampoline gymnastics.

That brought the team's medal tally to five - one gold, one silver and three bronze.

Schmidt defeated Chinese favourite and longtime rival Changxin Liu.

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PROUD: Dylan Schmidt celebrates with his coach during the medal ceremony.

"I feel awesome. I've wanted to do it for a long time, he's the guy I wanted to beat," Schmidt said.

A mistake in Schmidt's second routine and final qualifier almost proved costly, with one of his legs collapsing in takeoff. But the 17-year-old Aucklander fought back in the last five skills of the routine to move through to the final in fourth position.

It was the third and final routine on the trampoline that saw Schmidt soar above his competitors, with a difficulty of 15.400, an execution of 24.600 and a 17.340 time of flight, resulting in an overall score of 57.340.